I Appeciate Bella English's column about Question 2 inspiring parents
and their teens to discuss marijuana smoking (" Up in smoke Nov 10).

The article - which presents the question, "Mom, did you ever smoke
weed?" - is well balanced and lays out a range of options for parents
who have smoked marijuana. But it leaves out one important option: the
truth.

There are millions of parents who smoked marijuana responsibly (or
still do), and it wasn't "only a couple of times," and nothing bad
happened to them. The reward with this candor is the building of
relationships based on trust and honesty.

This still means that parents, even those who still smoke, are within
their rights to not want their teens smoking because they are too
young (think alcohol). While many parents may not be comfortable with
this nuanced message, there are many out there who will want to be
honest with their children.

The resulting conversations may lead to as good if not better
outcomes than resorting to lies or half-truths.

Tony Newman